DUDE & GUEST RANCHES

WOODSIDE RANCH Mauston, Wisconsin United States www.woodsideranch.com
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Overview

Who planted the many rows of pines? How did the Hungry Tree get its name? Is the "haunted" barn really haunted? Who opened Woodside to families and travelers everywhere? And what about those buffalo? This is a brief telling of that story.

The original two-story farmhouse, some five miles east of Mauston, Wisconsin, was built in the 1850s off a dirt road that served as a buggy path to town. A large cottonwood tree was planted at about the same time. (More on that later.)

For the next 50 years, the farmland was worked much the same as most farms in a largely agrarian America following the Civil War.

That would change after the turn of the century following the marriage of William and Sophie Feldmann on May 25,1899. Although a railroad worker in Belvidere, Illinois, William dreamed of becoming a farmer. For the near future, however, raising a family occupied the couple’s time.

The family grew quickly in the next few years: Raymond, Violet, Lucille, Dick, and Harold. As it turned out, the Feldmanns would need all the help they could get!

Woodside Farm Resort
By the end of the 1920s, the Feldmanns discovered that many people from the city had a great interest in spending a few days on a working farm, with a majority of guests taking the train from Chicago. William also discovered it didn’t hurt to have the additional income! So he printed business cards for what he now called the Woodside Farm Resort. He also lost an “n” in his name, at least on the card.

The rates were also listed on the card: Board and Room, $10 a week. With Bath, $12. The phone number was 36 B 35. At the same time, the farmhouse was enlarged from 240 to 1,200 square feet.

One of the first guests to make return visits was Rudi Petite.

When the resort started making wooden name tags for guests, and putting a brass pin in them for each year a guest returned, Rudi jumped out to lead the "pin pack". At his death in 1976, Rudi had come to Woodside more than 50 years in a row!

People didn’t always use the telephone to make reservations. Some would just drop by and take an available room or cabin, usually for a week. Most of the money earned from the resort was reinvested into building a few more cabins and buying more property and horses. By 1930, the farm could hold as many as 50 guests at one time.

One tradition began when guests started sitting under the large cottonwood tree - by now over 80 years old - to wait for the dinner bell. Soon it was called the Hungry Tree.

The "Haunted" Barn
Near the farmhouse and land purchased by the Feldmanns in 1914, there stood another farmhouse and barn, back in the woods. Built in the 1830s, it was later abandoned.

During the 1920s and Prohibition, the barn was quietly set up as a Speakeasy, serving alcoholic drinks illegally, much of it homemade moonshine. The Speakeasy also had gambling and Woodside guests would "hear" about the place and visit it.

The moonshine supply apparently wasn’t adequate for a booming business. When the owner, Ray Dalton, learned of a monthly shipment of illegal liquor carried by trucks from Canada to Chicago, he began hijacking the trucks and stealing the booze.

Unfortunately for Dalton, the operation was run by Chicago’s biggest mobster, Al Capone. When Capone found out about the thefts, he sent a gang to the barn and they machine-gunned the place. Dalton managed to escape … all the way out of the country.

Later on, the ranch hands would "haunt" the derelict barn by burying mattresses in the dirt floor (for that sinking feeling) and hanging spaghetti from the rafters. Then on Halloween, guests would be taken to the Haunted Barn for a spooky night of partying.

A few minor injuries among both employees and guests ended the hauntings.

Ideal Getaway
Despite Woodside’s success and growth, the traditions and atmosphere of a family farm have never been compromised. Woodside remains the city-dwellers getaway, today and tomorrow. Generations of families now claim to have spent time at Woodside Ranch. They come from all walks of life … even movie stars!

In 1957, a little girl stayed at Woodside and never forgot the thrill of breakfast rides and rodeos. Thirty years later as a wife and mother, she brought her family up to Woodside, including husband and actor Jon Voight of Midnight Cowboy and Coming Home fame.

Playing in a Woodside softball game, he became one of the many thousands who would bring home numerous images of fun, family, nature and a respite from daily life through the enjoyment of a "country life".

Woodside Today
Today more than ever, families enjoy the popular retreat from daily life that Woodside Ranch has to offer. In June 2002, the Zumwalt family purchased the Ranch from the Feldmann family. How appropriate that Zumwalt is German for "To The Woods"!

Damon is very excited about the future of the Woodside Ranch. He is committed to ensuring that the woods’ scenic and peaceful environment, the foundation for the Ranch being a great place to get away, will remain the same.

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